Beden to trim travel abroad due to budget

Beden was to travel to G7 in Japan on Wednesday before heading to Papua New Guinea and Australia. He is now expected to return after the summit ends to meet with the congress leaders in Washington, a source for the American BBC partner said, CBS.

The US may not pay its debt if the talks fail.

After the 19-21 May summit in Hiroshima, Beden was expected to travel to Papua New Guinea for regional security talks before heading to Australia for a meeting of “Quad” along with leaders from India, Japan and Australia.

American media report that he will instead return to Washington DC.

This month, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the United States may be broke by June 1st if Congress fails to increase or suspend its debt ceiling.

Reaching the debt limit would mean that the US government is unable to borrow more money, causing a catastrophic bankruptcy.

At the time, Yelen asked Congress to act “as soon as possible” to address the $33.4 trillion limit.

The republican leaders of Congress have criticised President Biden for traveling to Asia amid debt ceiling talks.

Speaking to Bloomberg News, House of Representatives Chairman Kevin McCarty said a seven-day trip abroad during an internal fiscal emergency would raise questions about the president's priorities.

On Tuesday, the spokesman for the White House National Security Council, John Kirby, hinted that Beden's travel plans could be changed as a result of “as the president seriously takes this priority for failing to pay off the national debt and what this says about the United States”.